Green Tips! Farm and Food

Beside all of the health benefits of eating a plant based diet, it requires a lot less energy and water than a meat-based diet. Meat is the LEAST energy efficient food on the planet. Beef requires 35 calories of energy for every 1 calorie it provides. That doesn’t sound like a very good investment does it? Eating just 2-4 pounds less meat a year will save as much water as not showering every day for a year. Plus, livestock produce a huge amount of waste which emits VOCs (volatile organic compounds) such as methane. So adopting a more plant-based diet is a powerful green choice. Your body, the environment and farm animals everywhere will thank you.

2. Buy local.

Buying locally grown food cuts down on the fossil fuels used to ship food around the country and the world. Food can travel up to 1,500 miles before it reaches your mouth! Some experts say that it takes almost as much energy to ship food as it does to grow it! Not to mention that most of the nutrients in fresh produce are left behind during all that traveling. So, if you buy local, you’ll be supporting local farms (you might even get to meet the farmers that grew your food!), getting more nutritious produce, and cutting down on fossil fuels. Pretty good deal, huh?

3. Go organic!

Organic food is more nutritious, tastes better and is safer to grow. Eating organically grown food is one of the most powerful choices you can make. ‘N’uff said.

4. Shop with reusable shopping bags.

If every American replaced one plastic grocery bag with a reusable one it would prevent 187.5 MILLION pounds of waste. Not to mention that reusable shopping bags look cool too 🙂

5. Get a travel mug!

Most paper coffee cup are bleached and lined with plastic captaining harmful BPAs. In 2005 Americans threw away enough coffee cups to circle the earth 55 times! Do the planet a favor and get a BPA free travel mug! Don’t forget to fill it with sustainably grown and produced coffee!